Our flight to Bangkok was via Sri Lanka with a 13 hour stopover in Colombo. We were really hoping that we would at least be able to get out of the airport for a couple of hours, rather than being stuck there for the entire day. However, Sri Lankan Airlines hijacked our plans and bussed us to an unknown hotel where we would be spending the day. When we arrived we were completely taken aback to find ourselves in a 4 star luxury hotel sipping welcome cocktails by the beach. The good news didn’t end there, as we soon discovered that not only did we have an amazing room (definitely the best we’d stayed in on the trip so far, and maybe in our lives) with a great view of the pool and sea, but also ... read more

Our journey to Mumbai was a little easier than many that had gone before as we flew directly there from Varanasi. As we landed, the bright lights of Mumbai's cityscape came into view confirming that this megalopolis was not going to be like any of the Indian cities we had visited previously. We jumped into our iconic yellow and black Premier taxi and enjoyed the ride south through the city gawping at the skyscrapers, hotels, hospitals and seemingly flowing traffic network. The city further delighted us when we arrived at our hotel in Ballard Pier, expecting an overpriced, basic, perhaps dingy hotel room, when in fact we found ourselves in a fantastically modern enormous suite, complete with a glass shower cubicle (haven't seen one of these for a while) and a flat screen TV with a ... read more

On our first day in Jaipur we set out with high hopes of checking out a good number of the Pink City's interesting sights, and decided to try the Lonely Planet's walking tour. Unfortunately we didn't get very far with this as we were impeded every few steps by rickshaw drivers who couldn't comprehend the concept of a walking tour and by people shouting "Indian?" at Cel every few steps. As you can imagine this was very frustrating! After 30 minutes of it we were getting pretty fed up and started giving fairly blunt answers, mostly "no thank you", and then ignoring further questions. To our dismay, however, one of the rickshaw drivers took offence to our new tactic and started an argument with us saying we were racist and didn't like Indians, and that we ... read more

Our next stop was Jodphur, the blue city famous for its pale blue houses overshadowed by the dominating Mehrangarh Fort and for being the place where horse riding breeches (jodphurs) were designed. Within the fort's towering walls was an amazing array of beautiful courtyards and corridors and lavishly decorated palaces. There was also an impressive collection of elephant howdaths and palaquins, formerly used to transport Maharajas during royal processions, and also collections of elaborate cradles and extensive armoury. The views from the impressive ramparts, so wide that they can hold 6 horses abreast, were fantastic, especially at sunset. From there we could also see Jaswant Thada, the cenotaph of Maharaja Jaswant Singh II, which we visited the next day. This Maharaja invented an innovative irrigation system, and people still believe he has a healing touch and ... read more

Madness! Absolutely nothing could have prepared us for the onslaught that is India. From the crazy traffic, to the scores of cows wandering down the streets, the autorickshaws weaving insanely around any and all obstacles, the endless hooting, fresh and old cow dung, and the fresh and old human dung, it is a completely bamboozling experience! Delhi's air feels thick with pollution and likely as a result, people seem to be constantly coughing, hacking and spitting, and if that's not bad enough, no wall is immune from being treated as a urinal and the smell of urine and rotting rubbish frequently fill your nostrils. Delhi's population is in excess of 13million, and boy do you know about it! No where more so than in New Delhi train station and on the metro, during the rush hour. ... read more